2 weeks in the British Isles

Break it into chunks and know that you'll return someday. You don't have enough time to do your visit any justice. I'd keep it to England, Wales and/or Scotland. Travel between Scotland and Ireland will loose a good portion of a day - either flying or by boat, so that only leaves 11 days to explore your destinations. I'd focus on 2 or 3 areas such as Bath, Oxford, York, Lakes District, Edinburgh/Stirling, or Inverness. Stay for a few days in each location and use them as a hub to explore the area near-by. That will limit your travel time and allow you to enjoy your locations more. Less is more...!

Hi guys: you are right about 2 weeks being a short time to see all 5 countries of GB. The most time consuming is going between Ireland and Scotland. You can take a ferry which can take most of a day and you don't want the expense of taking a car on board or you can fly. I would save Ireland for it's own trip. If you want to save England and Wales for your daughter; just do Scotland...especially if you want to do outdoor stuff like hiking and biking. We were in Scotland in April and it was still a little cool; just wear fleece. We were also there in September/October; the weather was great in September, but started to rain in October. Also Scotland being as far north as Canada starts to have much shorter days after the Equinox, so go there first and go south from there. Personally in the off season I would just go to England and Wales because there is something for everyone, closer together with warmer weather. Check the National Trust UK web site for the Overseas Visitors Touring Pass. We did Wales, England and Scotland in 21 days and England and Scotland in 15 days. We didn't do the Western Isles in Scotland; if you do you need much more time. Bon Voyage

Break it into chunks and assume you will be back. Let's be honest. You will never be able to see "everything" on any trip, no matter how hard you try. You will always be making choices about what you see and don't see.

Start off thinking about what interests you the most. Are there any special places that you have always wanted to go? I would probably break it down even more and choose either Scotland or Ireland. Even then, you will miss some things. Spend your time enjoying where you have gone to visit vs. trying to cover too much ground.

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the input and it supported what we were already concerned about.

We’ve been in the position from past early trips where we scheduled too much in too little time and couldn’t fully enjoy where we were due to time restraints.

Travelling takes time. An example, this weekend my family and I travelled from Portsmouth to Glasgow by train (for medical reasons my son couldn't fly) on the Friday. That journey took 6 1/2 hours leaving from 09:00. By the time we reached the hotel we had a brief look around the immediate area before dinner and bed. Saturday was taken up with the wedding. Sunday my wife and eldest returned home for work and school the following day so I took my other son to the Scence Museum where we spent hours (I highly reccomend it), then dinner then back to the hotel to relax before bed. Today is going to be another 6 1/2 journey home so whilst the pace wasn't quite as packed as others it's easy to see how four days can be used just travelling and spending a brief period somewhere that offers lots to see and do. Trying to pack England/Wales/Scotland and Ireland in is impossible.

Shawtsy,
We faced the same decisions that you raised when we planned our 4 week trip to Britain in October 2017.

The more research that we did, the more countries we eliminated. Our trip wanted to visit not just key places (outside of London) where our ancestors originated. Our trip included more places that we wanted to see, not just because of our ancestors.

We spend four weeks touring South Wales and much of England (no time in London or the SE or East Anglia). We had been to Great Britain and Ireland on earlier trips and my wife lived there in the 50s when her father was in the US Airforce.

Our itinerary included some wonderful places. We loved South Wales, especially Tenby. There are castles all over Wales and it is a beautiful country. We had been to North Wales in 2013 as well as Scotland and Ireland.

Bath is where we started (then into Wales), back to the Cotswolds where we based ourselves in Chipping Campden. From there we visited Oxford, Blenheim Palace, Stratford Upon Avon and of course the many towns and cities of the Cotswolds. On our way to York, we spent a day and night in Warwick (Warwick Castle is great, children love it).

York was one of our favorite places, we stayed there three days, then on through the Yorkshire Moors to Pickering then Whitby and two nights in Durham. We had a night in Haltwhistle near Hadrian's Wall then on to the Keswick in the Lake District for three nights, finally down south to Winchester for two nights then ending in Southampton where we took a transatlantic cruise back to the USA.

Here is my detailed writeup of the trip:
28 days in Britain and Celebrity Eclipse home
https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=599139

I agree with everyone here, break into chunks. Start with what you want to see in each area and let that dictate how much time to spend rather than deciding how much time you have and letting that dictate what you can see. If you think about it, you have to go back either way. If you see everything you want to see in an area during one trip, however, your next trip covers new ground.

I especially like what JC said. So many novice travelers don't account for travel time. The more you move around, the less time you actually have to see anything.

My choice would be a week or a little more in London with daytrips to Cambridge and Windsor, train to York for 2 nights, remaining time in Edinburgh. Train is faster than driving. I personally find York to be more compelling than Bath/Cotswolds. A Rabbies daytrip to the Highlands from Edinburgh. Fly into London and out of Edinburgh(or vice versa).

I especially like what JC said. So many novice travelers don't account for travel time. The more you move around, the less time you actually have to see anything.

Thank you Brad and to elaborate on the perils of travelling in unknown territory this particular journey included the daunting use of London train stations and the Tube. Portsmouth to Waterloo was easy but with 30 minutes to get from Waterloo to Euston to catch the train to Glasgow it can be tough going for someone not used to the system. I knew that I had to catch the tube from Platform 1 on the Northern Line, essentially an eleven minute journey to Euston however for someone with little to no knowledge of the the Tube it can be a very daunting experience and despite their best intentions it's not always obvious which direction the various maps are indicating and therefore it can often be a gamble as to which side of the tunnel you opt for. I was lucky enough to know where I was going but it's easy to see and quite evident when witnessing it, how confusing and intimidating the London Underground can be to newcomers.

I also acknowledge a previous post regarding a question about knowing which platform your train departs from, quite often this is only apparent within ten minutes or so before departure. Standing at London Waterloo, surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of people all staring at a seemingly never ending bank of ever changing stations, platforms and times must be incredibly daunting.

So my advice, particularly if your travel involves large metropolitan areas such as London, Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow, Edinburgh etc is to make note of transfer times. Buying tickets online through Trainline for example (a website often used for purchasing train tickets on the British rail network) will often provide you with the fastest (but doable) itinerary. However, "doable" is best reserved for those with experience of the system, who know where to go, who know how the rail system works and have an understanding of the Tube and other metro systems. If in doubt opt for some extra time to allow a cushion that will hopefully relieve the stress of dealing with an unfamiliar system within a tight time constraint. Of course this will eat into you time allowance but personally I'd rather do without the stress and see less.

The travel time was concern for us as well as we don’t know their system of PT well (we’ve used NYC, Philadelphia, and Boston quite a bit and have used PT in Germany and Austria, but that doesn’t mean it’s the same nor on the same scale as in the U.K.) I also would like to check out and see if there are any apps for regional transit systems than can give you live rail and transfer times.

All this is on top of debating where and when to rent a car.

While we were casually looking over itineraries online (and don’t judge me harshly lol...Pinterest), many just seemed to be unfeasible. At that point, I realized we needed to get insight from people who actually travel extensively or live in that part of the world, and not from someone who needs a great Instagram shot. And, will likely check out some travel books from our local library.

Thank you all again. It really does look like we will be looking at focusing on one country/region at a time and anticipate returning in the future.

I also would like to check out and see if there are any apps for regional transit systems than can give you live rail and transfer times.

The Natonal Rail wesbsite/app will provide live rail and transfer times including delays, disruptions etc for the UK rail network.

I've also found that all the airlines I've used have live arrival/departure data as well as the major airports.